A Classical Virus
by spike.writes
Summary: Cas and Dean have been friends for all the time they've been at university studying classics together. But it all changes when their professor doesn't turn up for a lesson and they start a game of truth or dare . . .
1. Chapter 1

So. Here we are again. This time, I've prewritten and edited the fic, so it should make more sense, be posted more regularly and be better overall (at least that's the dream).  
>Enjoy!<p>

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><p>"Hey, Dean! Wait up!" Castiel was rushing through the crowds of university students in the narrow corridor, desperately trying to reach his friend before he entered their classical civilisation classroom. He was forced to catch up by dodging other students, his long trenchcoat flying behind him. They had known each other for two years now, since they had joined the same university at the age of twenty-one. Cas loved Dean with a passion, but he was constantly worrying about the day when his fellow student would realise that his love was not <em>philía <em>- that is, a brotherly, friendly kind of love - and that his feelings towards the sociable, popular boy were more of the _éros _- or boyfriend/girlfriend - type. But Cas didn't really mind if Dean knew of his affection or not, as they still sat next to each other for several hours a day in their classical civilisation classes. That was more than enough reward for having to keep quiet about his true feelings.

"Seriously, Cas? Relax! It's not like I'm about to fall into a wormhole or something." Dean flashed him the smile he knew Cas adored - the scrunched-up, crinkly-eyed smile, usually accompanied by an embarrassed glance at the floor - and sauntered into the classics classroom.

"Hey, Anna!" Dean grinned awkwardly at the brunette, whom pretty much everyone suspected he had a crush on. "_Salve_, Gabriel _et _Balthazar. 'Sup?" With a hesitant smile at the rest of the group, Cas slid into the chair next to Dean's and busied himself removing his books from his bag. By taking long enough doing that, he usually managed to avoid the so-called 'friendly' banter that passed between his more sociable classmates. In fact, he could barely speak to any of them without whispering apart from Gabriel, and that was mainly because Gabe was two years younger than him and felt like his little brother.

"So, Dean," Gabriel muttered, in a failed attempt to sound nonchalant, "Any more news on where your brother is going for uni?" The rest of the class exchanged knowing glances, as it was common knowledge that Gabe and Sammy, Dean's little brother, had been regularly exchanging messages over the last six months, but nothing had come of it - yet.

"He's either coming here or Stanford, but I'm trying to persuade him that the law program is much better here for the sole benefit of one of my younger classmates." Dean winked far too obviously at Gabriel, who flushed red and dropped his gaze.

"Balthazar. How's things?" As Dean's attention switched from Gabriel to Balthazar, so did that of the rest of the group.

"Things are good, thanks." He replied. "How are you and Cas, though?" Cas knew that Balthazar was the only person who genuinely suspected his feelings, but he knew Balthazar wouldn't tell Dean or anybody else. However, he was perfectly content to waggle his eyebrows suggestively at the pair of them.

Dean looked concernedly at his friend, who seemed to be trying to simultaneously turn the precise colour of a tomato and tunnel to the centre of the earth through sheer willpower. "We're fine, Balthy." Dean shifted his body so he was partially shielding Cas' furious blushes from the class, a move which the younger boy was truly grateful for. "Have you lot done the translation homework?" Cas exhaled heavily as the conversation moved away from the discussion of Dean and Cas as an item.

Anna giggled nervously. "Well, you could say it's going to be done by the end of this period." Gabriel grabbed her notebook and read through the work she had done, scribbling down the untranslated sentences in English. "Wow, thanks, Gabe!" The blond boy shook his head.

"Just consider it repaying the favour from last night." Cas tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"What happened last night?" Anna took a breath and sat up straighter, giving the impression of someone who had a juicy story to tell.

"Well-" Gabriel cut across her, saying, "I got drunk last night, forgot my keys to the house and Anna let me in with her spare. End of story. Nothing more to see here." Anna laughed.

"Really, Gabriel. Are you going to miss out the part when you puked on a lamppost and then tried to chat up that nice policeman?"

"In actual fact, yes I was." Gabriel hid his face in his hands as the other classics students roared with laughter. Dean was doing his whole-body laugh, and seemed unaware of the almost reverent attention Cas was paying him from behind his battered classics textbook.

"Anyway," Gabriel said, attempting to regain the moral high ground, "Where's Professor Chuck? Surely he should be here by now?" Cas and Dean exchanged worried glances, but Balthazar and Gabriel seemed overjoyed by the lack of teaching taking place. With a manner that was almost identical to Fred and George Weasley's, they immediately shoved all the nearby tables out of the way and sat down in the beginnings of a circle. They looked at each other triumphantly and announced,

"Truth or dare?"


	2. Chapter 2

Dean slumped down to the floor from the table where he was perched, leaning against a table leg with an air of relaxed interest. Cas looked around at all his classmates, realised that he was the only person not sitting on the floor and reluctantly sat down next to Dean with his arms wrapped tightly around his legs, as if he wanted to protect himself from the scrutiny of the other students. It crossed his mind that they should probably inform another member of staff that their teacher hadn't turned up to teach them, but he didn't want to oppose the actions of his class so he just went along with what they were doing.

"I'll start." Dean announced confidently. "Gabe, truth or dare?" Gabriel groaned at being the first to be picked, but said that he would do a dare. Without a second's hesitation, Dean said, "Okay, you have to go out into the corridor and yell 'CLASSICS IS THE MOTHER OF ALL SUBJECTS' as loudly as you can." Gabriel squirmed uneasily, but complied with Dean's instructions. His shout echoed through the building for at least a minute, but he was back in the room long before the words had faded away. When he saw that Anna had her phone out and had been filming the whole thing, Gabriel shrieked and roughly pulled her phone from her hands and deleted the clip. Cas sighed. This was exactly the kind of 'friendly' banter that he so disliked.

"So, Cas. Truth or dare?" Gabriel grinned impishly. "Come on, you know you want to!" Cas had seen too many of Gabriel's dares to even contemplate accepting the offer, so he replied that he would answer a truth. Balthazar smiled wickedly and leaned over to whisper a question in his friend's ear. Gabe nodded enthusiastically, before transferring his attention back to Castiel. "Balthy here says that your truth should be . . . " Here he paused dramatically and did a drum-roll on the table with his hands. "Telling us if you're bi or not." Gabriel thought for a second and realised that this rather abrupt question needed a reason behind it, so he quickly added, "Because he thinks you are, but you never said anything about it." Cas squirmed uncomfortably at having to reveal such a personal fact about himself, and soon worked himself up into such a state about it that he started to cry quietly.

"What the hell, Balthazar." Dean's voice betrayed none of its earlier friendliness or charm, instead sounding as uncompromising as a brick wall. "And you, Gabriel. Why would you ask him something like that, when he clearly would have told you if he'd wanted to? I think you shouldn't make him do that question, especially not in this round." Cas' sobs had subsided into almost silent sniffles and the tears had soaked his coat sleeve, so Dean decided to wrap his arm around his friend's shoulder and pull him in tight to his body. "That was bang out of order, guys. You should say sorry." Such was Dean's social status among his fellow students, his commands were actually followed through. The two boys muttered an apology and awkwardly looked away.

Then Gabriel seemed to receive a burst of confidence, and he said to Dean,  
>I think you should answer Cas' question instead of him, just to make it fair." Dean's arm was still wrapped around the younger boy's shoulders, and he released him before exhaling and inhaling deeply a few times. His shoulders were shaking slightly when he replied,<br>"Okay. Don't judge though." Dean's frame seemed almost shrunken, and everybody could see the physical effort he was having to put in just to get the words out. "I'm bisexual."

The silence in the room was astounding. Nobody had ever suspected that Dean was anything but 100% straight, especially once his record with the girls in his dorm was factored in. Dean's voice was shaky, but he still found the inner strength to say,  
>"Happy now, Gabriel? You got your answer!" Gabe nodded assent, with all the speech knocked out of him by Dean's revelation. "Anyway, now I challenge Anna. Truth or dare?"<p>

The game resumed much as before, with reckless dares and light-hearted truths being tossed around the room as easy as blinking. When Cas and Dean had both fully recovered from their ordeals, Balthazar was quick to pounce with a truth for Cas. It was the same question as before, just delivered more kindly and better-worded. After Dean's shock announcement, Castiel felt that he could reveal his own answer more easily - or at least with a more toned-down reaction to his answer.

"I'm bi too." Cas said, his voice barely louder than a whisper. Gabriel and Balthazar exchanged a meaningful look and Anna feigned disinterest, picking at a loose thread on her jumper. Only Dean appeared to be taking an interest in Cas' answer, with wide eyes and slightly parted lips. Cas' eyes met Dean's, and Dean shook his head slightly, as if shaking himself out of a reverie. When his voice felt steady enough to talk again, Cas said, "Truth or dare, Balthazar?

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><p>Dean's POV<p>

Wow. Okay. That came out of nowhere. I didn't mean for that to happen, but it was kinda funny seeing the looks on their faces. I didn't know I was that good an actor. Maybe I should have listened to my sophomore-year drama teacher more. Never mind. I hope Cas is feeling better now. I wish he knew the effect those tiny snuffling noises have on me. If one good thing comes out of this, it means I won't have to come out to anybody else - Gabe and Balthy will have told everybody by the time this lesson is over anyway. God, why did they have to ask Cas that stupid goddamn truth? He shouldn't be forced to tell such a personal thing as that. Mind you, I did, but I was sort of planning to tell people about it sometime soon anyway. Why did Professor Chuck have to not be in today? Everything would be fine and normal if he'd been teaching us right now. Typical Gabe and Balthy, I guess.

Hang on, Cas. What? You're bi too? Okay, maybe the two of us are better actors than we thought we were. We could go into business. Winchester and Novak, the great truth-concealers. Yes, I can see it now . . . And there's another thing I can see now. He's only ever done the puppy eyes at me, so it might mean something more . . . Then again, I might just be the only person that he needs to do the puppy eyes at. Oh well, I think I should just get on with the game, and not talk about it more today. I might talk to him about it tomorrow morning . . .

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><p>Cas' POV<p>

Sheesh. Dean too? Maybe I should do that truth again, so he knows that I like him? Or he might just think I'm doing it to be cool and like him. I bet I've known that I'm bi for longer than he had, though. Mind you, he hasn't had a serious girlfriend since first year, so that might mean something . . . Yeah, or he hasn't found anybody that he likes enough since then. Okay, I'm going to do it. Then he'll know that I'm available and he can take an interest in me. I can do it. For Dean. I really can do it. If he did it, I can do it. Come on, Cas, let's do this. Three little words that will change everything . . . NOT HELPING! Shut up, inner monologue. I can do this.

Wow. Yes. I did it. Hah. Take that, sucky inner monologue. And the looks on their faces - priceless! And Dean did seem interested, if that face was anything to go by. He looked like he'd just seen an angel. On the other hand, it could just be a delayed reaction from his coming out. Yes, wide eyes and an open mouth are definitely symptoms of shell shock . . . Also, attraction. Hmm, then again, he could just be faking it to make me feel better. Never mind, I'll talk to him later - or wait for him to talk to me first. Yes, I will play it cool. Cool. Not very me, but then again, neither is coming out because of a game of truth or dare. If only Balthazar would stop pulling idiotic faces at us . . .


	3. Chapter 3

NB - Ovid is a classical poet.

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><p>Hello. - Cas<br>hi what's up - Dean  
>I am watching a very boring television show with Kevin. You? - Cas<br>that stupid ovid project that prof. chuck set us. i bet you've done it already, haven't you - Dean  
>Yes. Isn't it due in on Monday? - Cas<br>maybe . . . ;-) - Dean  
>I can email you my research to you so you can fill in the gaps in your work. It will save you the bother over the weekend. - Cas<br>That is, if you want me to? - Cas  
>yes please :-D - Dean<br>I have sent you the file. - Cas  
>thanks buddy. you helped me big time there - Dean<br>It was all I could do after today's lesson. You helped me then. - Cas  
>just sticking up for a friend :-) - Dean<br>Thank you. - Cas  
>back at you - Dean<br>I need to go to sleep now. It is nearly eleven. - Cas  
>okey dokey see you in the morning - Dean<p>

Dean smiled happily at his phone. Cas was such a dorky texter, and Dean loved that Cas preferred to text from his dorm room next door than bother to come round and risk seeing Bobby, Dean's roommate. Anyway, friendship with Cas had its benefits - free homework help being one of them. He knew that if he'd asked any of his many other friends they would have demanded a fee of money, food or a favour in return for homework help. But Cas was happy to help Dean in pretty much any way, which Dean always felt slightly guilty about. Cas would willingly save him from a burning building, but he wasn't sure if he'd be able to return the favour. Dean blinked. This was deep, even for him. He put it down to lack of sleep and promised himself that he would go to bed early every night this weekend to stop these kind of thoughts reoccurring. Dean plugged his phone in to charge and flopped on to his bed, not even bothering to pull the duvet over him. He was already asleep.

Dean! Wake up!" Bobby, Dean's thirty-seven year-old roommate was shaking him roughly by the shoulder.  
>What's the matter?" Dean mumbled, his words still slurred by sleep. Bobby had a sense of urgency about him that he hadn't had since his truck had broken down two hours before his wedding. The answer came to him before Bobby even had the chance to open his mouth again.<p>

**Fire.**

God, Dean hated it. His mother had been burnt to death when he was just a kid - _right in front of his eyes_ - for God's sake, and the substance had repelled Dean ever since. He had left the Scouts, his life when he was a kid, because they insisted that he had to light a fire to pass the test. His stomach flipped when he heard the words. While his mind was having a miniature panic attack, his body had gone on to auto-pilot and Dean resurfaced from his thoughts halfway down the three flights of stairs in his dorm house, pulling on a jacket. The smoke was already almost unbearable, and he spared a bit of pity for Kevin, Cas' roommate, who had really bad asthma attacks that would undoubtedly be worsened by the flames and smoke. Dean emerged from the burning building wheezing and doubled over, with a hacking cough. He saw Kevin crouched on the floor with another student standing next to him, offering him an inhaler. Dean looked closer, and realised the kid with the inhaler wasn't Cas, who he had instantly assumed it to be. He searched the crowd of students for his trenchcoat-wearing friend, and was unable to find him.

Dean ran over to the huddle of staff members nearby and shouted urgently to them over the roar of the blaze,  
>"Do you know where Castiel Novak is? Is he safe?" They looked at each other and shook their heads sadly. A kind-looking teacher said to him,<br>"We're not allowed back in the building, I'm afraid. We've called the ambulance for Kevin and the fire engine to tackle the flames. There's nothing else that we can do." Dean hissed through his teeth, turning away from the unhelpful teachers. Typical, he thought, useless teachers. Cas could be dying, but they didn't want to do anything to help him!

Dean came to a quick decision. He hitched his jacket over his head and ran back into the flames. The smoke was stifling, but Dean was so determined to save Cas that he barely felt them. He was halfway up the second set of stairs when there was an ominous crash from the floor above him. Dean was scared. What if Cas was already dead, crushed by a falling beam? Dean would die for nothing, burnt to death like his mother . . . He banished these pessimistic thoughts to the back of his head, where they lurked like piranhas in a jungle river, ready to strike at any moment. A massive piece of the ceiling had barred the way to the third floor of the house, causing Dean to let out a cry of frustration and rage.

With a superhuman strength that Dean had never felt before or since, he shoved the piece of ceiling to the side of the corridor and bounded up the several steps between him and his end goal. Dean ran along the landing and threw open the door to Cas' room. The door jammed halfway and Dean was forced to wriggle through the gap. The sight that awaited him haunted his dreams - both day and night - for several weeks afterwards.

Cas was pinned to his bed by a fallen piece of ceiling, almost exactly like Dean had imagined. What he hadn't realised was how Cas was struggling to breathe, how there was a sheet of fine dust coating his skin and how he was attempting to free himself but failing miserably. The flames were licking around the door by this point, and the pair let out a body-wracking cough at almost exactly the same time. Cas groaned with pain, the contrast between Dean's body-shaking laugh in the morning and Dean's body-shaking cough in the night. What if they both died in here? It would be a cruel twist of fate to kill both young men, when they had only just realised the real truth about each other.

Dean realised that the tears streaking down his dusty cheeks were matching Cas', which snapped him out of his reflection. He was still stuck in a burning building, standing next to his trapped friend. He staggered forward - the smoke was starting to affect him more noticeably now - and lifted the chunk of paint, plaster and wood off Cas. Cas was trying to move his legs, but he was wincing visibly every time he touched them. Dean decided to take matters into his own hands, sliding his hands under Cas' body and lifting him up to his chest. He was surprised by how light Cas was, but what surprised him more was the look on his face. It was almost a mirror image of how he himself had looked in the classics lesson that morning.

Cas coughed loudly and Dean sprang into action. He kicked the door open so that he and Cas could both fit through the gap, and then stumbled out of the room. Cas could feel Dean's legs wobbling slightly under him, so took the precaution of linking his arms around his saviour's neck. Dean stiffened, but kept moving. It was so cliché, he realised. He was saving the poor damsel in distress from a burning building, and they were emerging from the house with a backdrop of smoke and flames. He half expected the _Top Gun_ theme tune to start playing, if he was honest.

Then the paramedics were taking Cas from Dean's arms and putting him into the ambulance, along with Kevin and a few other students who seemed to be suffering from smoke inhalation too. Dean brushed off the teachers, insisting that he was fine and didn't need any help. What if he never saw his friend's face light up with a Dean-induced smile again? Never saw his friend scribbling out classical translations as easily as breathing again? Never watched his childish joy when the canteen was serving hamburgers for lunch again?

Once the ambulance had driven off to the hospital, taking Cas with him, he staggered off by himself, slumping down next to a tree and moaning into his hands. After a few minutes like this, he was crying noisily, wondering how he would cope if Cas died. He'd looked pretty bad when he had gone into the ambulance. God, how could he live with himself if he turned in Cas' research for his Ovid project when its true owner was dead, gone, buried?

The answer was - he couldn't.


	4. Chapter 4

Professor Chuck swept into the classics room just as the bell rang, his baggy coat flowing behind him.  
>"Sorry about last Friday, folks, I did email you about the fact that I had a meeting during our lesson last week, but the new email system seems to think the Greek quote on my signature is a virus, so none of my emails have been getting through. So yes, sorry about that. Moving on, let's do the register! Anna?"<br>"Yes, sir."  
>"Balthazar?"<br>"Yes, sir."  
>"Castiel?"<br>"He's not here, sir."  
>"Why's that, Dean?"<br>"H-he's in hospital." Dean choked up slightly, feeling his throat constrict at the thought of Cas lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to a beeping machine with doctors huddled sombrely around him.  
>"Why, Dean?" The professor was accompanied in his request by the rest of the class.<br>"You know that fire we had last Friday in my dorms? Cas has the room next to mine, and he got trapped by a fallen piece of ceiling. Everyone got out, except him. I went back to get him, and we both got out of the building before it started to fall down properly. We've all been moved to temporary rooms. But he was suffering from smoke inhalation, so they've kept him at the hospital for observation. He should be coming out some time soon." Dean breathed out, releasing the tension that he had held in his shoulders. Anna patted him on the shoulder, which he would have enjoyed at any time apart from now. His shoulders began to shake, and he buried his face in his hands to disguise his sobs.

"Thank you, Dean. I assume you will be taking his work to the hospital for him?" Dean nodded assent and lifted his tear-stained face to listen to the professor's next sentence. "Can you help him catch up with the classwork? I heard from your house representative that you live next door to each other, so it shouldn't be too much of a hardship." He jerked his head up and down mechanically and put his head back on the table.  
>"Erm, sir, would you mind if I took Dean outside to calm down?" Anna enquired. "I think he needs it right now, especially given the circumstances." Professor Chuck waved them out with a flick of his hand, and Dean was relieved to be excused. As soon as the door was closed after them and they were out of sight of everybody else, Dean sagged into Anna's arms.<p>

"What am I going to do, Anna? What if he dies? He'll never know how much I need him. What if he dies while I'm with him? Will that be worse or better? I don't know. What am I going to do?" Anna stroked his hair as she helped him into a sitting position, back resting on the wall.  
>"It's going to be fine, Dean. People who get smoke inhalation are usually back to normal within about a week. Cas is tough. He's not going to let a teeny bit of smoke take him away from you, is he now?" Dean smirked slightly. Anna was so perceptive, she'd realised what he and Cas hadn't in all their two years of friendship. Or maybe they had realised it, which is what had prompted their shared confession last Friday. Whatever happened, he knew that Anna would stand by him and Cas - which is more than what he could say for Gabe and Balthy.<br>"Are you sure? You didn't see him when he was stuck in his room. He looked helpless, like nobody could save him from his fate." Anna chuckled.

"But you did. He will love you forever for doing that, and he will always be in your debt. If you think of him in the way I think you do, then that will certainly work to your advantage. And you can go and see him after class has finished today." They both grinned. Things weren't turning out as badly as he thought they would, Dean realised. Still smiling, Anna led Dean back into the classics classroom, where he laughed out loud had the gobsmacked expression on Gabriel and Balthazar's faces. Presumably, they had been expecting him to come back in in floods of tears, most likely sobbing into Anna's shoulder. Dean grinned even wider at that thought. Yes, he was going to prove those idiots wrong. He could visit Cas at the hospital that afternoon, bringing the homework from that day's lesson to his workaholic friend. Yes, today emwould/em turn out to be a good day, no matter what.

Dean took one step into the hospital and screwed up his nose. What a reek! It was one of the principal reasons that he didn't often go into hospitals, aside from all the cleaning procedures and the gloomy staff. But it was worth it if he was going to get to see Cas. He arrived at the desk to enquire as to where Cas was being kept. The sour-tempered receptionist seemed determine to irritate him so much that he would leave, but she eventually informed him that Novak, Castiel was in Ward 3 on the third floor. As he was heading towards the lift, the receptionist called after him,  
>"You won't be allowed in! It's family only, you know!"<p>

Dean shrugged. He wanted to see Cas, and only a complete idiot would try to stop Dean Winchester when he wanted something. The lift pinged, and Dean stepped inside. The lift was empty, and it gave Dean some time to compose himself before seeing Cas. Who knew what he would look like, sound like and act like? He would probably be a little thinner than before, as Cas was a notoriously picky eater and wouldn't eat anything that he didn't want to, no matter what the threats made to him were. Dean checked in his backpack for the family-sized bar of Dairy Milk chocolate that he had secreted in there for Cas to eat. He knew it was Cas' favourite, and he'd probably be ravenous by now.

The lift doors slid open, and Dean walked out, his stride slightly stiffer than usual. It was time to blag his way into Ward 3. The first obstacle was a stern-looking woman sitting behind a desk next to the ward doors. She looked up as he approached her.  
>"Who are you? This ward is strictly family only, you know." Dean stood up straighter and announced,<br>"I am Dean Novak, Castiel Novak's cousin. I think you'll find me on his records, if you check!" Dean smiled inwardly. He knew that Cas didn't have a family record, so the woman would be unable to check if he was Cas' cousin or not. She seemed unconvinced.  
>"I'll have to check with Dr. Crowley, sir. I won't be a minute." She shuffled out from behind her desk and went into the ward.<p>

Dean was heartily bored by the time she emerged, with a short, round-headed man in tow. She whispered something into his ear, and he nodded several times.  
>"Dr. Crowley says you do share a passing resemblance, but I will ask the patient if he knows you." She opened the door and bustled in, Dr. Crowley trailing after her. Dean poked his head round the door to show Cas that Dean 'Novak' really was Dean Winchester. Thankfully, Cas realised and acknowledged Dean as his cousin before the receptionist could forcibly eject him from the hospital (she looked like she really wanted to).<p>

"So." Dean grinned, feeling the happiest he had all day. "How are you, cousin Cas?" He leant on the edge of Cas' bed and pulled the chocolate out of his bag, loving the look on his friend's face when he saw the food. His eyes widened, his jaw dropped and he unconsciously leant towards the chocolate.  
>"A lot better now, thanks Dean. How did you know? The food's been absolutely ghastly here. They even tried to feed me lentil lasagne - the horror!" Dean tried to detect a sarcastic undertone in his friend's voice, but failed. That's what Dean especially liked about Cas - how you could take everything he said to you at face value.<p>

Mind you, talking of faces, Cas' looked pretty beat up. There was a long jagged scratch all the way from his eyebrow to his mouth on the left side, and the right side was a mass of smaller cuts and bruises. Dean grimaced. If he thought he'd got off badly, Cas had clearly had a much worse experience in the fire. The blue-eyed boy still coughed occasionally, but not half as much as he had on the night of the fire, which Dean was glad to see. Cas could see the concern on his friend's face, etched in every line on his tanned skin. Dean shifted uncomfortably, causing Cas to drop his gaze (which he he realised at that moment was most likely too intense at this stage in their currently platonic relationship).

"So, Cas." Dean started huskily. "When are you being let out of this dump?" They both smiled wryly and Cas replied,  
>"They need to run some more tests on me first, but Dr. Crowley says I should be allowed out by Wednesday at the latest." Dean let a happy smile spread across his face.<br>"Well, you can't die on me now, buddy. Not after I rescued you from a burning building and all that. You mean more to me than all those dumbass jocks put together."  
>"Even Anna?" Cas smiled weakly.<br>"Anna ain't a jock, Cas, where have you been?" They both laughed, but Cas' face became serious once more.

"I'd like to thank you for what you did, Dean. The doctors say if I had been exposed to the smoke for even one more minute, the lung damage would be permanent. As it is, I just have to stay off sport for a few months. So, thank you." Cas leaned forward and, for one fleeting moment, both of them thought he was going in for a kiss. Certainly, both of them wanted him to. They settled for a tight hug, Dean burying his face in Castiel's shoulder to hide the emotions running across it. They sat up again, smiling at each other.  
>"Can I come back tomorrow with some catch-up work for you, Cas? Professor Chuck said I could bring you some as soon as you felt up to it." Cas nodded his head fervently. "Same time tomorrow, Cas?" The patient nodded again, pleased that they finally had an excuse to stage some regular meetings (or whatever Dean wanted to call them).<p>

"See you then!" Dean said as he stood up to leave. It took him a second to realise that Cas had just said exactly the same thing, albeit with a mouthful of chocolate. They shared a confidential smile and then Dean left, head filled with Cas. It was surprising how often that had happened lately, he thought. It seemed to have started on Friday, after that game of truth or dare . . .


	5. Chapter 5

hey cas. im on my way to the hospital. r u still ok for me to give u the work? - Dean  
>Yes, thank you. How was class? - Cas<br>same old, same old - Dean  
>Was there any homework? - Cas<br>yep, stacks of the stuff - Dean  
>I look forward to it ;-) - Cas<br>im outside ur window - Dean  
>that sounded creepy - Dean<br>im coming up now - Dean  
>I don't mind :-) - Cas<p>

Dean stared at his phone in bemusement. Cas must have been affected by the smoke more than he'd let on. He'd gone from using no smiley-faces at all, _ever_, to using two in one conversation. On the other hand, Sammy used to say that Dean made people do weird things just by being in the same room as them. He called it the 'Dean effect'. Also, Cas had implied that he didn't mind him 'being creepy' because he genuinely wanted to see him. This realisation sent a whirlwind of butterflies through Dean's stomach, causing him to feel suddenly light-headed with an overflow of happiness.

He walked out of the lift, spoke quickly to the receptionist - the same one as yesterday, thank God, so they didn't have to go through all that palaver about identification again - and entered Cas' ward.  
>"Hey, pal. How's things?" Cas' eyes lit up as he saw Dean walk through the door. Dean didn't know how much he had always looked forward to seeing that expression on his friend's face, but there it was, and how he loved it. Cas ducked his head shyly.<br>"Good, thanks. Dr. Crowley says that I can go back to the dorms tomorrow afternoon." He brushed his slightly too long fringe out of his eyes and continued, saying,  
>"Are there <em>really<em> stacks of homework to do?" in an adorably concerned tone - or so Dean thought.  
>"Nah, I was just kidding. We had to do another Ovid translation, but that was it. Oh, and Professor Chuck says that I should help you catch up on the classwork too." Cas nodded slowly, digesting all this new information.<br>"Where could we meet to do the work? I need to find my new room in the temporary accommodation and stuff first, after I get discharged from here. That'll probably take about forty minutes, and then I could come and find you to do the catch-up work at about six."

Dean's brain whirred. He wondered if Cas' gorgeous sky-blue eyes could see right through his skull to the turning cogs beneath. He could arrange to meet his friend at the library, but he knew that was ages away from the temporary dorms and it was always too cold there, so that was a bad idea. In the classics room? No, the cleaners would be there in the early evening. Maybe, just maybe, he could summon up the courage to invite Cas to his room? It wasn't like it was a random stranger he was asking to invade his safe place - this was emCas/em. Cas, who he had voluntarily saved from a burning building. Of course he could ask Cas to come round to study in his room. Dean coughed self-consciously and replied,  
>"You could come round to my room to study - that is, if you wanted to? We could always go to the library, but it's usually a bit cold, especially now it's autumn-" Cas pulled him up short by gently putting his hand on Dean's shoulder.<p>

"I'd love to come round to yours to study, Dean. Whatever you decide is fine by me." Then he smiled the most angelic, incredibly-sweet-but-absolutely-not-sickly smile that Dean had ever seen. Even as he was walking home, he kept replaying the moment in his mind. Cas was amazing. Dean knew that he had known that long ago, but today was the ultimate confirmation. He knew all the right ways to make Dean feel comfortable and at ease, just like Sammy. But Dean felt there was something more between him and Cas. Something unspoken, but precious all the same.

* * *

><p>Dean leaned his head against the door frame as he unlocked the door, letting out a sigh of pure happiness. It was so ridiculous, yet wonderful, all at the same time. Cas made him feel like the teenager he used to be, feeling the pangs of head-over-heels first love. He just wondered if he made Cas feel the same way. He was roughly shaken out of his pleasant reflections by Bobby punching him - not too lightly, either - on the shoulder.<br>"Hey, you lovesick puppy. Who's caught your eye this time?" Dean shook his head ruefully and grinned. Nobody had caught his eye, or not in the way that Bobby was implying. That person in particular had caught his eye long ago.  
>"Cas is coming round to study with me tomorrow night. He needs to catch up on the work he missed in class while he was in hospital." Bobby practically cackled with glee.<br>"Ooh, I can hear the wedding bells ringing already! Is it going to be Winchester-Novak or Novak-Winchester?" He skipped off to his room, snatching up his phone on the way. "Yes, campus will definitely want to know about _this_ development." He murmured under his breath, sending out messages almost faster than his fingers could type.

Dean lay down on his bed, smiling innocently at the ceiling. Cas was coming to see _him_ tomorrow, specifically _him_, and in his room too! It was almost too much to believe. He half thought that he was going to wake up in the morning and realise that it was all a dream and the fire had never happened. In some ways, Dean reflected, the fire was good. Or, at least, it was going to have a positive effect in the long run. If he hadn't saved Cas from the blaze, they wouldn't have a valid reason to study together. In emhis/em room. He couldn't remember being this happy since Anna had smiled at him - emfor no reason/em - on the first day of fresher's week. Yes, he decided, today was a good day to be Dean Winchester.

He was snapped out of his blissful state by a text alert from his phone, which he had discarded on the floor near his bedroom door. He pounced on it immediately, hoping the text was from Cas. It wasn't. It was from Gabriel's phone, so therefore it would be from either Balthazar, Gabriel or both.  
>Hey, Dean-o. Glad to hear that you and Cas finally have a 'study session' planned. The sexual tension was killing us! - Gabriel and Balthazar<p>

Dean growled. Goddammit, Bobby! He was going to pay for this! Dean couldn't let rumours like this circulate round campus, or he'd never hear the end of it. He nosed around the dorm for a few minutes, finally concluding that his roommate had wisely vanished, taking his phone with him. Dean banged his head against the table for a few minutes, then decided to inform Cas of the recent developments.  
>hey. in case you hear anything about our study session tomorrow night - IT'S ALL LIES. i told bobby you were coming over and he's texted pretty much the entire campus rumours about us. dont worry, its going to be fine - Dean<br>He stared angrily at his phone for a while, and then concluded that this was a rather unproductive activity to be engaged in, so he switched it off and went to sleep.

Cas' phone pinged twice. He sleepily leaned over and picked up his phone from where it lay on his bedside table. He read Gabriel and Balthazar's text first, heart swelling with sympathy on Dean's behalf. At least he was safely cooped up in the hospital. On the other hand, Dean would be exposed to everybody's homophobic comments all by himself tomorrow. Filled with indignation, he clicked on Dean's text. It calmed Cas slightly, but he still felt a strong urge to defend Dean from the haters. He knew how Dean would deal with this whole situation from his experiences in the past, and he grinned. At least they knew each other well. It wasn't like Dean was getting hate for being 'involved' with some random guy.

As Cas liked to think to himself smugly, he and Dean did share a more profound bond.


	6. Chapter 6

Breathe, Dean told himself. Just breathe. Cas isn't going to care what the dorm looks like, he's here for _you_, not your interior design skills. Strangely, that thought did nothing to allay his fears and he went back to nervously pacing his bedroom, as he had been doing for the past three hours since classes had finished. Sheesh, he had never been this nervous for any of his other dates before. Even if this was a date, what made it so especially nerve-inducing for him?

It was with Cas, that was why. Cas, who he thought he would only ever be friends with, who was staunchly and undeniably - a guy. Dean smirked at himself. He, Dean Winchester, was getting more riled up about a date with his best friend than the hundreds of dates he'd had in the past. Dean passed the full-length mirror in his hallway and stopped to check his reflection. He was wearing a red plaid shirt, black trousers and his favourite battered pair of boots. He laughed again. Here he was, checking his reflection for a date. It was something he'd never thought to do in the past, but he was doing it now. Cas was having some pretty strange effects on Dean, as well as vice versa.

There was a sharp knock on the door and Dean backed quickly away from the mirror. Just in case it was Bobby, he didn't want more rumours circulating about his feelings towards Cas. As he suspected, it was Bobby at the door. He had a paper bag in both hands, one of which he threw at Dean.  
>"Doughnuts for you and Cas if you get <em>hungry<em> during your study session!" Dean didn't miss the innuendo in Bobby's sentence, so he scowled. "Check inside, Dean-o! Guaranteed to make all your troubles go away!" Dean grimaced as Bobby brushed past him into his room. What did he mean? Dean cautiously opened the bag and saw a sight that could only be rivalled by Cas' eyes. There were five _ring_ doughnuts - God, could that guy get any more obvious? - in the bag, still warm from the oven. Maybe that was another positive to come out of the fire - the fact that their new dorms were located a few streets away from an all-hours bakery that made amazingly good doughnuts.

As Dean had been inhaling the beautiful doughnut smell, the door bell had been ringing repeatedly. Dean snapped out of his reverie, knowing full well that if Bobby answered the door he wouldn't leave them alone all night and wouldn't hesitate to throw disgusting innuendos their way. He smoothed down his flannel shirt, took a deep breath and opened the door.  
>"Hi, Cas! How are you?" Inwardly, Dean cringed with embarrassment. He sounded like his grandmother answering the door to salesmen. Cas sensed his awkwardness and gave his friend a quick hug. Dean inhaled the lovely, Cas-y smell and was calm. Cas' smell could beat doughnuts any day, hands down.<br>"I'm fine, thanks. Can I come in?" Dean stopped staring at his friend and stood to the side of the corridor, spreading his arms in a welcoming gesture. Inside, he was crying with humiliation. Where had he got _that_ particular idiotic gesture from? After a few seconds, it occurred to him: Sammy's first year play. God, that was a long time ago. Cas walked past his friend, marvelling at the unusually tidy state of the rooms. Dean grinned. This study session might just go to plan. But that thought occurred before he factored Bobby in. Suddenly, 'Can you feel the love tonight' started blasting into the dorm from Bobby's room. Dean rolled his eyes, stalked past Cas and slammed the door to Bobby's room.

"Come on, Cas, let's go to my room. It's the only place we're going to get any peace - or at least while Bobby's still here." Cas nodded acceptingly and followed Dean to his room like a sheep following its shepherd. Dean opened the door to his 'humble abode', which was how he liked to stylise it in his head. In reality, it was a small room that just fitted a single bed, a wardrobe and a desk. This desk was usually piled high with Dean's textbooks and sheets of paper, but he had made an effort to tidy up for Cas by sweeping it all into a large box, putting the box under his bed and draping a blanket over the bed. Cas seemed underwhelmed, but Dean strongly suspected his own temporary accommodation was exactly the same.

Cas nervously set his bag of books down on the desk and took the seat on the left. Dean had been cleaning his room when he realised that he only had one chair to offer, so he stole both chairs from the dinner table and put his rickety chair in the kitchen. He hoped Cas wouldn't notice the tomato ketchup stain on the seat of the other chair, so he hastily sat on it.

Bobby's obnoxious music was still blaring out, but now it had changed to 'On My Own' from Les Misérables. Cas flinched as Dean slammed his textbooks down on the table and threw the worksheets at his friend.  
>"Dean?" Cas ventured tentatively. "What's wrong?"<br>"I can't fudging concentrate with that stupid music on!" Dean got up and closed the door with unnecessary force. Cas tilted his head to the side.  
>"Are you sure that's all, Dean? You seem . . . conflicted. What's the matter?"<p>

"It's the song. They played it at my mom's funeral . . . and it's just making me think . . . would I have been invited to your funeral if I hadn't gone in and got you out of the fire?" He broke off to bury his face in his hands, unconsciously mirroring the position he had assumed on the morning when he had to tell the rest of the classics class about Cas' injuries. Cas patted Dean on the shoulder hesitantly."  
>It's okay, Dean. I'll make sure that you get put on the list to speak at my funeral." Dean choked out a laugh. "Is that the only problem?" Dean sniffled for a few moments before he spoke.<br>"It's just . . . how could I live with myself if you died, even after I'd dragged you out of the flames? If my best wasn't enough to save you?" Cas took Dean by the shoulders and positioned him so that they were facing each other.

"Your best was enough to save me, Dean, and that's what counts." Dean smiled weakly and hugged his best friend tightly. He hadn't felt so safe since . . . forever, really. "Now we've got the emotions out of the way, can we please study? Or you'll have to save me from the wrath of Professor Chuck too!" They both smiled at the joke, ate a few doughnuts and studied.

They studied for four hours straight, with no breaks. The classics students were so wrapped up in their work that they didn't notice the time until Dean's phone alarm (IF YOU'RE NOT HOME, GO HOME) pinged at ten O'clock. Cas hugged Dean, told him to ring him if he needed anything and left, leaving the comforting smell of himself behind in Dean's bedroom.  
>Dean sat down on his bed and smiled. It was amazing how quickly he and Cas had memorised each other, working out ways to make each other laugh and ways to make each other smile. He wondered how they hadn't got to this stage of friendship before, and concluded it was because of the fire. As he had theorised, it certainly seemed set to have a positive effect in the future - as it was already. As he drifted off to sleep, Dean realised that this was probably the slowest-developing relationship that he'd ever had. Then he laughed at himself for even thinking that it could be a relationship. Before he knew it, he was asleep, dreaming sweet, Cas-filled dreams.<p> 


	7. Chapter 7

"Today, class, we are going to be working on the love scene I asked you to translate for homework." Gabriel groaned theatrically, a sentiment that was shared at least in part by the rest of the class. "Anna and Gabriel will be in a pair, and Balthazar and Cas will be sharing the female part and working in a group with Dean. You can go and rehearse where you like, but beware - I will be walking between your groups all the time to see how you are getting on." Cas and Dean grinned at each other as Anna stalked out of the room, followed by Gabriel. Everybody knew - except Professor Chuck, it seemed - that they were no longer on speaking terms. However, Dean was still angry at Balthazar because of the innuendo-filled text he'd sent with Gabriel about Cas and Dean's 'study session'.

"I am _not_ kissing you, Dean. End of. No ifs, no buts. I am not." Balthazar folded his arms defiantly. Cas brightened up slightly and said enthusiastically,  
>"I'll kiss Dean. After all, Chuck did say that you and I were sharing the female role, Balthazar." Dean frowned at his friend's over-excited face, worried that Balthazar was going to read too much into his enthusiasm and link it to the previous night's study session.<br>"Okay." Dean agreed, relaxing. "So I guess that means Balthy and I are doing the first half and then you come on in the second part, Cas?" Cas nodded in agreement and sat down on the bench near where they were practising. Dean smiled broadly at his friend and spoke his first line. "Good day, sweet maiden. Where are you travelling to?"

Many laughing fits aside, Dean and Balthazar had managed to struggle through their section of the scene, although Balthazar didn't take kindly to being called a 'sweet maiden' as the script required. Once they had completed the first half, they agreed that Balthazar would walk off while Cas walked on to ensure a smooth transition. Cas usually enjoyed acting, but today his hands were shaking and he could barely lift his eyes higher than Dean's shoes. He had seen the glare Dean had given him and the accompanying message after he had eagerly suggested that they kiss instead of Dean and Balthazar. Clearly, Dean wasn't prepared to go that far yet, but Cas didn't mind. He would gladly wait for his friend to get to that stage and enjoy it when it happened. On the other hand, Dean seemed to be suffering the same internal torment as Cas was, which maybe meant that the message with the frown really meant 'not here' instead of 'not now'. Either way, they still had to kiss.

"Oh really, my good lady?" Dean smirked, which was the cue for them to lean in and kiss. Cas stepped into Dean's embrace and tilted his head to the side. They both closed their eyes and tentatively touched lips. Dean could barely restrain himself from gently nipping Cas' lower lip, but he forced himself to - after all, Balthazar was watching and who knew what he'd tell Gabriel afterwards.

Dean was resigned to pulling back and finishing the scene, but Cas took the initiative and slowly worked his tongue into Dean's mouth. Dean huffed out a breath of surprise and willingly returned the gesture. The kiss got more and more heated until a rather unsubtle 'ahem' interrupted them. They both untangled their hands from the other's hair and stepped apart - but still standing closer than they were before.

When they saw who had interrupted them, they both flushed tomato-red. Dean looked as if he wanted the ground to swallow him up. Professor Chuck was standing in front of them, letting out little snuffles of laughter. He was murmuring something under his breath that Dean later realised was something along the lines of,  
>"Yes! Twenty pounds to me, thank you, Mary! I knew this would happen if I put them in a group together. Oh, I am on form this year!" Cas stared resolutely at the ground while Dean took a sudden interest in the sky. Professor Chuck composed himself before going on.<br>"It's good to see you two getting into it! You are clearly recreating the acting styles of the ancients here, as there were no women actors in those days, so all the kisses were between two men like yourselves. Good work!" Cas and Dean grinned awkwardly at each other as their teacher strode off. Dean tried to look nonchalant, but failed miserably. He was grinning like an idiot and knew it, but he couldn't help himself. The kiss was better than he had hoped in his wildest dreams. The only downside was that it had been in the presence of Balthazar, but it wouldn't matter much if they became a couple like Dean hoped they would.

Cas turned to Dean once their professor had gone and said breathlessly,  
>"Can we go again?" For once, Dean couldn't have said no if he'd tried.<p>

* * *

><p>After class had finished, Dean turned to his best friend and hesitantly asked if he wanted to go to the campus park with him. Cas replied in the affirmative and they walked there slowly, each savouring the other's presence. Dean thought that their kiss might have changed the friendly dynamic between them, but it hadn't - yet. They came to a park bench and sat down. Cas kept sneaking admiring glances at Dean and looking away whenever he suspected Dean was doing the same. Eventually, Dean got fed up of Cas' unsubtle looks and held his gaze when Cas next looked at him.<p>

"Why do you keep looking at me like that? Have I got something on my face?" Cas giggled self-consciously, before looking back up at Dean.  
>"No, you haven't. And I keep looking at you like this because I admire how you went ahead with the kiss even when you clearly didn't want to." Dean was confused.<br>"Why would you think I didn't want to kiss you? I mean, I didn't want to do it right then but I did - and still do - want to kiss you." He paused, as an unwanted idea slid into his head. "Do you still want to kiss me? I know that that kiss was pretty dire and-" Cas cut him off mid-sentence by covering Dean's mouth with his own. Dean responded enthusiastically, and they only broke the kiss when Cas felt like he was about to faint from lack of air.

"Yes," he breathed. "Yes, I do." They sat and stared at each other, marvelling at the perfection of the other man's face for several minutes. Eventually, Dean ended the silence.  
>"Castiel Novak," he stuttered, taking Cas' hand between both of his, "will you be my boyfriend?" Cas visibly lit up, pulling Dean into a tight bear hug.<br>"I thought you'd never ask." He whispered into Dean's ear. "Of course I will, Dean."

"Okay," Dean responded, "now can I take on my duties as boyfriend and escort you back to your room? You're freezing!"  
>"Sure - I don't want you turning into a block of ice on our first date either!" Cas stood up, catching hold of Dean's hand as he did so. They walked back to the dorms slowly, revelling in the bubble of love that was wrapped around them, shielding them from the sarcastic wolf-whistles that were aimed their way. Once they reached the warmth of the dorm, Cas gave Dean a quick peck on the lips and headed back to his room.<p>

Dean walked off in the other direction, internally screaming with happiness at the afternoon's developments. When he picked up his phone (which he had left behind), a thrill of joy was sent through him when he saw the text waiting for him. It read:

I love you, Dean 3 - Cas


	8. Chapter 8

Ruby's. That was the restaurant that Dean had decided to invite Cas to on Friday, to take their minds off the fact that it was the one-week anniversary of the fire. They had arrived around half and hour ago, wrapped up against the bracing wind and holding hands. The eponymous restaurant owner took one look at the pair of them and immediately situated them in a private alcove, away from the noise of the diners.

Cas took one look at the starter they had ordered to share and turned up his nose. Dean's heart skipped a beat at the horrified expression on his boyfriend's face. He thought he'd ordered a nice ordinary starter of breadsticks and honey, not the more whacked-out options like crab and olives. Cas immediately removed the expression of disgust from his face when he saw the anxious look on his date's, and quickly explained.  
>"For my work experience at high school, I worked at the local animal protection agency. We got a call about some honey bees who were locked up in a tiny hive with no space to move. I had to go and help them, but it was disgusting. Apparently, loads of the honey that they produced using those horrible methods got put into honey all over the country. For all we know, this honey could be from a hive like that." Dean squeezed Cas' hand and reassured him.<p>

"Cas, I know the owner of this restaurant really well and she collects all her own honey from a huge hive that she keeps out the back so all the bees have lots of room. We can go and check it out after we've eaten, if you want?" Cas accepted Dean's offer and the breadstick that Dean was holding out to him. Dean laughed as Cas carefully nibbled his way along the breadstick, a bit like a guinea-pig with a carrot.

After Cas had got over his aversion to the honey, the evening went much more smoothly. The food was sublime, the atmosphere was perfect and, best of all, nobody seemed to object to the fact that there were two guys in the corner feeding each other breadsticks and clearly in love. Over two more courses, Cas and Dean discovered each other's hidden quirks that they had never known about before, like Dean's passionate dislike of salad and Cas' love of burgers.

When they had piled all their layers on again and trudged back to the dorms, Cas surprised Dean by dragging him back to Cas and Kevin's room. He was bemused, but Cas' next words made everything make sense.  
>"Kevin's over at his friend Meg's for a Marvel marathon, so you can stay over and we can watch a film together." Cas' puppy eyes made it impossible for Dean to say no, so he allowed himself to be bundled into Cas' dorm - which was practically identical to his own - and be sat down in front of the TV to pick a film while Cas busied himself making popcorn and hot drinks.<p>

Dean knew that this scene was straight out of a romcom, but it didn't bother him in the slightest. He picked up the remote, turned the TV on and scrolled through the array of films on offer. Eventually, he chose the same Marvel movie as Kevin and Meg would be watching at the moment,_ Captain America and the First Avenger_. Cas brought the snacks through about five minutes after the start of the film. Dean scooted along to the end of the couch, letting Cas snuggle into him and spreading a blanket over the pair of them. Most of the film passed uneventfully, and full bellies from the meal at the restaurant and from the popcorn and hot chocolate made them sleepy. Cas had curled up with his head on Dean's shoulder and gone to sleep about three-quarters of the way through. Dean could feel himself slipping into sleep alongside Cas, so he hastily switched off the TV and moved the popcorn bowls out of harm's way before lying down on the sofa with Cas in his arms and going to sleep.

A raucous laugh woke them up, accompanied by a delighted squeal. Dean sat up, bleary-eyed, to see Meg prancing around the room happily typing on her phone.  
>"Good morning, lovebirds. How was your night?" Cas scowled at her with an adorable intensity.<br>"Where's Kevin? Shouldn't he be here if you are?" Meg laughed again.  
>"Oh yes, he's in the bathroom." She could see that this news wasn't keeping their attention, so she played her best card. "Don't you want to know what campus thinks of you two sleeping beauties?"<p>

Dean and Cas looked at each other, neither really understanding what she meant. All of a sudden, Dean knew what she had done.  
>"Give. Me. Your. Phone." He said, with as much dignity as he could muster while still half-asleep. "NOW." He added, reaching out for it. Meg twirled away and out of the door, cackling all the while.<br>"Seriously, Dean, what's the matter?" Cas didn't know what was going on, only that it was making his boyfriend mad.  
>"That idjit's gone and taken a photo of us while we were asleep and posted it on Twitter. Goddammit, Cas!" The younger boy looked outraged, but not able to put his feelings into words.<br>"The . . . the . . . the _assbutt_!" He finished triumphantly. Dean smiled indulgently at him, realising how mild Cas' nature was so that his best insult was 'assbutt'. "We can't let her keep it up, the whole campus will see it!"  
>Dean shrugged, smiling grimly.<br>"I have a feeling that they already do."

* * *

><p>(AN) Yay for the plot twist! Please tell me what you thought in the reviews :-)


	9. Chapter 9

(A/N) I love this chapter :-) please leave your opinion in the reviews

* * *

><p>"So, guys, I gather you've all seen the hate about Cas and I that has been posted on Twitter?" Dean slung his arm around Cas protectively, allowing the younger boy to lean into him. From the look on their faces, Gabriel and Balthazar clearly had. Only Anna looked confused, so Cas decided to put her out of her misery. He pulled his phone out of his coat pocket, opened Twitter and passed it to Anna.<p>

hahaha look at these lovebirds - megthecoolone

lol gays - freddiegrahams

ugh theyre disgusting - sparklinq

yuck somebody please kick them out - kingharry

ewww i hate gays theyre horrible - lilypotter

why would they do that? its vile - caseydrew

Anna sighed and gave the phone back to Cas.

"I guess you had to expect that, guys. I mean, America is still pretty against gays in general, so they're not going to be totally welcoming to you, are they?" Dean shrugged unhappily before he spoke.  
>"But it isn't right for all this to be heaped on us. We should stop it." Cas turned to his boyfriend concernedly.<br>"Maybe we should give them a taste of their own medicine?" He grinned wickedly and Dean groaned.  
>"I KNEW leaving you at Gabe's by yourself was a bad move. You've picked up all his bad habits." Gabriel rolled his eyes.<br>"I do think that it's a good idea, though. We can take some pictures of straight couples round campus and use the gay-hating captions on them." Cas was nodding enthusiastically, so Dean admitted defeat, sighing dramatically before kissing his boyfriend on the cheek.

"Whatever you want, Cas!"

* * *

><p>Plan Stop Gay-Hating, as it eventually became known as, was put into action at 3pm that day. Gabriel and Balthazar had volunteered to be the official photographers and put their spying skills to good use. Barely twenty minutes had gone past before the first straight-couple photo beeped in Anna's inbox. She smiled as she saved the picture.<br>"Those guys are great at this! It's Lily and Harry kissing - both of them put horrible captions on your photo. Perfect!"

Within five minutes, Anna had posted the photograph twice, with Lily and Harry's captions: 'yuck somebody please kick them out' and 'ewww i hate straights theyre horrible'. When Dean saw the photo, he grinned.  
>"Hopefully this will work, or we'll just get a reputation as the token weirdos of the school." Cas grinned wryly at his boyfriend.<br>"At least we are standing up for something worthwhile and something that we believe in."

Cas grabbed Dean's hand and pulled him out into the corridor. He stood on his tiptoes so that he could whisper into Dean's ear;  
>"I know why Gabe is happy to be going along with this." Dean tilted his head to the side, enjoying the warm tickle of Cas' breath on his ear. "Dean Winchester! Are you listening to me or not!" Still whispering, Cas moved closer to Dean so his mouth was almost touching the other man's ear. "It's because of Sammy."<p>

Dean stepped back in alarm.  
>"<em>Sammy<em>? What's Sammy done to make Gabriel act funny?" Cas smiled at Dean's scared expression.  
>"You know how he and Gabe have been texting for ages now? I think Gabe's got a crush on him, so he wants to make this college more accepting of gay couples so that when Sammy comes here and if they get together, they won't get hate like we are!" Dean pulled Cas into a bear-hug.<br>"_Genius_." He breathed.  
>"No, not genius." Cas laughed, now speaking at normal volume. "Just did psychology in high school."<p>

When the pair walked sedately back to Anna, they were taken aback by how many photos she had managed to post with Dean-and-Cas-related captions, just changed so they were regarding the straight couple in the picture.  
>"Sheesh, Anna! 67 photos?" They said in unison.<br>"Yep!" Anna replied in a self-satisfied tone. "And all using captions that people posted about you. Gabe and Balthy have sent me loads more though . . . " Cas sat down next to her and took his phone out of his pocket, opening Twitter.  
>"Want a hand?" Anna forwarded most of the photos to him and signed in to Twitter on her own account, so Cas couldn't be traced back to the plot too easily. Dean took a chair opposite the pair, gazing dreamily into the sky-blue of his boyfriend's eyes . . .<p>

* * *

><p><em>Dear Mr Winchester,<em>

_I would like you to come to my office at 5pm tonight, along with Mr Novak, to discuss the photograph posted of you on Twitter and your reaction to said photograph._

_Yours sincerely,  
><em>_Professor Chuck_

Dean read the email again, scarcely able to believe his eyes. How did Professor Chuck know about the photos? And how on earth did he even know what Twitter _was_? Dean looked up at Cas, who, from the worried expression on his face, seemed to have received the same message from their professor.  
>"Goddammit Cas, what have we got ourselves into now?" Cas shrugged and kissed Dean reassuringly on the cheek.<br>"It's going to be okay, Dean. It can't be worse than those horrible tweeters, can it?" Dean hugged him tight. Cas always knew the right thing to say to cheer him up, even if it was slightly controversial in its own right.

They had walked over to Professor Chuck's office slowly, hoping to delay their seemingly inevitable exclusion or even expulsion from the university at the hands of their classics teacher. Dean knocked quietly on the door. There was an anxious ten-second wait, and then Chuck whipped open the door.  
>"Mr Winchester. Mr Novak." He nodded a greeting to his students. "I hope you're feeling alright. This discussion shouldn't take too long, so do come in!"<p>

Linking hands, Cas and Dean walked into the professor's office.

* * *

><p>(AN) Sorry for the huge wait, but writing should be back on track in a few weeks, along with my Christmas fic (hopefully). Stay tuned!


	10. Chapter 10

(A/N) I hope you enjoy this chapter and congratulations on struggling through over ten thousand of my fandom-related words. *applauds enthusiastically*

* * *

><p>"So, boys, the photo that brought us here. What do you have to say about it?" Professor Chuck steepled his hands and rested his chin on his fingers. Dean stared at Cas meaningfully,<br>hoping that he would receive the same message that he was sending: Don't talk. Not under any circumstances. I can handle this. However, Cas looked like he was getting the message  
>'I'm hungry. Are there any chipmunks around here.' by the look on his face.<p>

Dean took a breath and spoke. He told Professor Chuck about their Marvel marathon, Meg's photo and the gay-hating comments. He sat back, quivering with emotion. Cas knew the story  
>wasn't finished, so he covered his boyfriend's hand with his own and continued the story.<br>"We didn't think it was fair, so we decided to give them a taste of their own medicine. Some other students took photos of straight couples and Anna Milton and I twisted the hate  
>captions to apply to straight couples. We posted those pictures, most of the gay hate got taken down and now we've ended up here."<p>

Chuck nodded gravely, eyes closed. He seemed deep in thought about the plight of his classics students. Eventually, he opened his eyes to deliver the verdict.  
>"I don't think that I can do any more in this matter. I appreciate you two telling me the truth, but maybe tone down your reactions if this happens again, yes?" Cas and Dean nodded<br>mutely. "But I'm afraid that I must refer you both to Principal Crowley to make sure the message gets across."

The students sat up in shock.  
>"Professor, please! Do we have to? Please-" Chuck stopped them mid-flow.<br>"I'm sorry, boys, but it's campus policy. It's already too late to go to him today, so you need to go to his office straight after our first class on Monday morning."

Ignoring the mutinous mutterings directed at him from the other side of the table, Chuck dismissed them with a flick of his hand.  
>"I apologise, Dean and Cas, but it's just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. I'll see you tomorrow for class." With that, the professor swept out, ending the meeting.<p>

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><p>Dean spent the whole of classics wallowing in self-pity and self-loathing. Why was it always him that ended up dragging people into trouble? It used to be Sammy who was his sidekick, and now it was Cas. The only difference was that now he could legitimately be screwing up someone's future instead of their plans for the weekend. Dean hunched over as much as he could, trying to disappear. At least Anna, Gabe and Balthy got off without a suspension or permanent expulsion, he consoled himself. Mind you, who knew what was going to happen to him and Cas? At the very least, they would be suspended, he reasoned.<p>

When the end-of-period bell sounded, previously a sound of hope and freedom, it now resonated like death knell inside Dean's skull. Cas took his hand and led him briskly to Principal Crowley's office. Dean didn't know how Cas could behave so _normally _in such horrific circumstances. Especially when Dr Crowley, the doctor who had saved Cas' life a few weeks earlier, turned out to be a cousin of the very man they were going to see. They knocked on the head's door and Crowley's secretary let them in. Dean leant his head on Cas' shoulder and tried not to think too hard about what was going to happen to them in the next few minutes.

Eventually, the secretary bid them entry to Crowley's office, an imposing room furnished with antique wooden furniture. The principal himself was seated behind a large oak desk, frown firmly in place. He gestured to the pair to take the seats directly opposite him, then began to speak.

"Well, Mr Novak. I _am _surprised to see you here. All I had ever heard about you before this sorry matter arose was an impression of a happy, well-rounded, dedicated student. It seems your relationship with Mr Winchester is leading you astray." That was when Dean knew he was screwed. Crowley continued to extol Cas' previously impeccable behaviour, with a big emphasis on the _previously_. Then he turned to Dean, with a face as hard and unemotional as a rock face. Dean thanked his lucky stars that Sammy had already been accepted, or the faculty would probably have had 'concerns' about his admittance.

"Now for you, Mr Winchester. I would like to make it clear that I have no issues with your sexuality or relationship with Castiel here, but I do have issues with your rebellious reaction to a photograph of you asleep with him posted by Meg last week." Dean slumped down in his chair, sadly accepting the verbal assault. The principal's voice ramped up a notch. "And was it _entirely_ necessary to retaliate in such a brash manner? I gather you have caused rather a lot of hurt among your fellow students as a consequence of your actions. What do you have to say for yourself?" Dean attempted to defend himself, but soon gave it up as a lost cause.

"So, boys. I regret to say that I am going to have to suspend the pair of you for a week, beginning tomorrow, to allow you time to reflect on your actions. Good afternoon."

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><p>Cas downed another mouthful of beer, heroically trying to keep pace with Dean's self-inflicted, misery-fuelled drinking. He had already had several times over the legal drinking limit, which Cas had noted around an hour. He thanked God that they'd already assigned Anna to the role of designated driver, or they would be facing a long, drunk walk home in the bracing night air. But his attentions were soon turned back to Dean, who seemed more depressed than ever. Cas slid along the bench until he was right next to his boyfriend. After all, this was not a conversation one wanted to be having within earshot of dozens of drunk students.<br>"Are you feeling okay, Dean? You know I don't blame you for any of this. We got into this mess together, and we're going to get out of it in exactly the same way - together." Dean shook his head miserably.

"No, it isn't _our _fault. It's _my_ fault, and mine alone. If I hadn't asked you out in the first place, or come round to your room, or agreed with your plan, we wouldn't be suspended right before exams like we are now. And I've basically just screwed up both of our futures in one fell swoop, so I think we should cut out this whole 'relationship' stuff and go back to how it was before. Before we were both suspended." Dean slumped on to the bar, head in his hands.  
>"Why, Dean? It's not going to change anything if we break up. We can't go back to how it was before and pretend all this never happened. We've got to learn from our mistakes, <em>as a couple<em>. And I for one am going to get a lot worse than suspended if you break up with me now after all this." Cas stroked Dean's hair comfortingly. "Come on, let's go back to yours. I'm bored of this, and I don't think your mindset is going to get any better with another round of beers inside you."

Reluctantly, Dean finished his beer and walked out of the bar to Anna's car. She drove them home, complaining about the stink of beer on their breath the entire way. She dropped them off outside their dorms and drove away.

* * *

><p>"Now, Dean." Cas growled in a husky voice. "I have something rather <em>special <em>planned for you tonight . . . " Shivering with anticipation, Dean allowed Cas to lead him up to his room.

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><p>(AN) To keep this K-rated, I'm just going to leave it at that. Allow me to imply that **something **definitely happened that night, but it is up to your imagination as to what exactly ;-)


	11. Chapter 11

(A/N) Basically, this is a winding-up chapter - finishing the story and a little epilogue. Enjoy and leave reviews!

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><p>"Cas?" Dean poked his boyfriend in the shoulder to wake him up. "Come on, buddy, we need to get up - Kevin's probably done a Meg on us already!" Cas rolled over, entangling himself even more in the blankets. Dean smirked. The dark-haired boy looked like a helpless kitten tied up in a ball of wool. Cas groaned, the cold morning air hitting him as Dean ripped the duvet off. "Rise and shine, Novak. We have some suspension time to fill!" He grinned wickedly and Cas sat up with all the elegance of a stuffed dodo. Yawning widely, Cas mumbled,<br>"It's funny, really, Dean. We've gone from friends to - well, how can I put this - a _lot _more than that in the last week alone." They both grinned. Dean dragged Cas impatiently off the bed and into the kitchen for breakfast.

Dean loved Cas, loved how Cas made him feel, and, to be honest, if he had died right then, he would have been happy because of Cas and the memories they had made together.

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><p><strong>Epilogue<strong>

"Mr Castiel Novak, a first in classics. Miss Jane Nott, a second in biology . . . " As Cas reluctantly went up on to the stage to collect his certificate, Dean couldn't help but laugh at the disgruntled look on his face. It was apparent to everybody watching that a graduation gown and cap was _not _his preferred choice of attire. But if Dean had laughed as Cas received his degree, he was almost crying as he collected his own certificate. This small, seemingly insignificant, piece of paper was the culmination of three years' hard work, blood, sweat and a lot of tears. However, for the most part, Dean had enjoyed university, especially after he and Cas got together. Another relationship that was a long time in the making had been made official earlier that week - his little brother Sammy and his friend Gabriel. So, truth be told, that day was the best day of his life.

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><p>(AN) And there we have it. Another fic done. I hope you enjoyed it and continue to read my writing :-)


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